Nathan Cleary cheers on girlfriend Mary Fowler after heartwarming Sydney rendezvous – as the Matildas star ends goal drought vs South Korea

Nathan Cleary cheered on his beau Mary Fowler as she ended a long wait to find the back of the net.

The Matildas star has not scored in her last 14 appearances for both club and country. But on Monday night, the Manchester City forward strode into the South Korea penalty area and sent the ball flying into the bottom right corner of the goal to give Australia a 1-0 lead heading into half-time.

Her goal spurred Australia to seal a 2-0 victory, with Kaitlyn Torpey adding the extra goal in the second half. 

Fowler has has been back in Sydney this past week while on international duty and had caught up with her boyfriend, Cleary, over the past few days.

While they are currently living nearly 17,000km apart, it appears their relationship is going as strong as ever, with the sporting power couple being pictured enjoying some time away from their respective codes with a trip to Redleaf Pool in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

The heartwarming pictures showed Cleary and Fowler embracing and sharing a kiss and brought back similarities of when they were famously pictured in a Perth park back in November 2023, after they had just gotten together. 

Nathan Cleary (pictured white T-shirt) was seen cheering on his girlfriend Mary Fowler in Newcastle on Monday night 

Fowler (right) looked back to her best on Monday night as she guided the Matildas to back-to-back victories against South Korea

On Monday, Cleary smiled as he sat in the stands at the McDonald Jones Stadium.

It’s been a rocky few weeks for the Penrith halfback on the footy pitch for the Penrith halfback, who had suffered a concussion earlier this season during the Panthers’ defeat by Melbourne Storm.

The defending champions have looked a shadow of their previous selves this year, having won just once in 2025, slumping to 15th in the NRL ladder.

It came after the side slumped to a 22-18 defeat at home by the Cowboys on Friday night. Cleary had also been on the end of a controversial hit, with fans fuming that Coen Hess had brutally caught the Kangaroos playmaker high. Replays appeared to show the tackle had made contact with Cleary’s head, but the Cowboys veteran was neither sent to the sin-bin or put on report – sparking outrage online.

At the start of the season Cleary and Fowler had met up in America, with the Matildas star featuring for her side in the SheBelieves Cup, while the Penrith halfback flew to Las Vegas to feature in Penrith’s victory against Cronulla.

Cleary featured for Penrith during their 22-18 defeat by the Cowboys on Friday night 

Cleary (left) and Fowler (right) spent some time catching up in Sydney this week while the Man City star returned to Australia for this week’s international friendlies  

Fowler and Cleary had caught up in California back in February while they were both in the States representing their respective teams 

Cleary had asked his coach, Ivan, to catch up in California with Fowler, pledging to his dad that he’d play better if he was able to catch up with his girlfriend before hand. 

And after their rendezvous this week, Fowler has recaptured her dangerous best to help launch the Matildas to back-to-back wins against South Korea.

After igniting Australia off the bench in Sydney, Fowler returned to the starting line-up at McDonald Jones Stadium and wasted no time to make her presence felt against the world No 19 outfit.

The 22-year-old star outworked four South Korean defenders in the box to slot the 44th-minute opener before sparking Torpey’s goal in front of a record 28,019-strong crowd.

Fowler had plucked the ball off Lim Seon-joo and crossed to substitute Caitlin Foord – cleared of suffering a nose fracture after a head clash in Friday’s match at Allianz Stadium – in the 63rd minute.

A dogged Foord was denied three times before Torpey tried her luck with the crumbs, her ball deflecting in off the foot off Lim Seon-joo.

Torpey was awarded the goal, while the South Korean No.6 was stretchered off after an awkward landing.

Fowler had looked threatening from the outset, stationed by interim coach Tom Sermanni on the left wing in the same role at club side Manchester City.

She had cleverly danced around the visitors’ defence only to send her 13th-minute shot straight at goalkeeper Kim Min-jeong.

McNamara scrambled to pick up the crumbs but a quick-thinking Kim Min-jeong got to the ball first.

Teagan Micah worked diligently at the other end in injured No.1 goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold’s absence to claim back-to-back clean sheets.

Kaitlyn Torpey (left) followed up with the Matildas second goal in the 63rd minute of the match 

The Matildas will return to action at the end of May where they will take on Argentina in two friendlies 

South Korea had almost hit the scoreboard when Ko Yoo-Jin’s header crossed the line in the 86th minute, but the debutant was found to be offside.

It was hometown hero Emily van Egmond who found the back of the net in the second minute but the goal was disallowed given Holly McNamara had fouled Lim Seon-joo in the lead up.

Van Egmond popped up again later to set up Fowler’s opener, with former Newcastle Jets midfielder Claire Wheeler and substitute Tash Prior also enjoying a homecoming.

Kennedy looked worse off with extensive bruising around her right cheek after accidentially colliding with Yallop, who appeared to walk away gingerly from the incident with a knee complaint.

The pair were eventually substituted in the 59th minute, replaced by Claire Hunt and Torpey.